Reversing loss of year ago, New York Times posts a profit

NEW YORK: The New York Times posted a net profit on Thursday as cost-cutting and an improved advertising climate helped turn around losses of a year ago.

The Times Co., which owns the flagship New York Times, International Herald Tribune, Boston Globe and 15 other dailies, reported a quarterly net profit of 14.15 million dollars compared with a loss of 74.22 million dollars in the same quarter a year earlier.

Revenue declined 3.2 per cent to 588 million dollars in the first quarter compared with a year ago but was an improvement from the 11.5-per cent slide of the previous quarter.

Advertising revenue declined 6.1 per cent in the quarter to 313 million dollars with print advertising revenue falling 12.3 per cent.

Digital advertising revenue rose 18.3 per cent to 80 million dollars.

Times Co. president and chief executive Janet Robinson welcomed the strong online performance and said the advertising climate was improving overall.

"We experienced significant positive trending in both print and digital advertising revenues relative to the fourth quarter," she said in a statement.

"As the quarter progressed we saw acceleration in the rate of advertiser spending across our newspapers, websites and other platforms, reflecting a firming of economic conditions," Robinson said.

She said online advertising revenue increased to 26 per cent of total ad revenue in the first quarter, up from 20 per cent a year earlier.

"Once again strong cost control was a leading contributor to our improved operating performance in the quarter," Robinson added.

The Times Co., which carried out a series of job cuts last year, brought down operating costs by 18 per cent in the quarter to 535.2 million dollars.

Like other US newspaper groups, the Times Co. has been grappling with declining print advertising revenue, falling circulation and the migration of readers to free news on the Internet.

Times Co. shares shed 3.92 per cent in early trading on Wall Street to 12.24 dollars.